Picker-check for looms.



M. F. FIELD.

' PIGKER GHEGK FOR LOOMS.

APPLICATION FILED 001:. 11, 1912.

1,071,61 3. Patented Aug.26, 1913.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.-

MILLARD F. FIELD, OF WINTHROP, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO M. F. FIELD MANU- FACTURING C0,, INCORPORATED, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

PICKER-OHECK FOR LOOMS.

I Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 26,1913.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MILLARD F FIELD', a citizen of the United States, and resident of l/Vinthrop, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Picker-Checks for Looms, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters 0n the drawings representing like parts. p

The present invention is an improvement on the picker check of United States Patent No. 825,309, patented July 10, 1906, whereby the durability and life of the check are greatly increased and the operation improved.

The present invent-ion is characterized by providing the strap or friction member with a spring backing secured at or near the inner end of the check. It is further characterized by having an adjustable spring backing, preferably adjustable in tworespects, viz. as to its length along the back of the friction member and also as to its thickness. In the preferred construction, this spring backing is laminated and the respective leaves are adjustable back and forth on each other and also independently removable, so that there may be one long leaf and two shorter leaves, or one long leaf and one short leaf, or two relatively short leaves, or one long leaf and another leaf ofintermediate length, according to the requirements of the particular loom or preferences of the operator.

By having the spring backing secured at or adjacent the inner end of the check, the retardation and stopping of the picker stick are much more uniform, and the effect on the adjacent leather which receives the blow is much more gentle and less destructive. The present construction removes the destructive effect on the leather, due in the previous construction to the tendency of the leather to bunch up or make an injurious bend or hump at the outer end of the leather. Also, the liability of breaking the backing spring is avoided. But the principal advantage of the present construction is that the frictional resistance or yielding pressure of the check increases evenly until the picker stick comes to a halt, and this resistance is readily adjustable or variable at will simply by adjusting the spring leaves with relation to each other, and, if desired,

regulating the number of leaves.

In the drawings, Figure 1 1s a perspective View of the improved picker check; Fig. 2

The leather strap or friction member 2 is clamped at its opposite ends between the vertical legs or supporting arms 3, 4: and parallel clamping plates 5, 6 by bolts 7, 8 and nuts 9, 10, said legs or supporting arms 3, 4 extending rigidly from a bottom plate or main frame 11 strengthened by a brace 12, an ear or fastening plate 13 projecting vertically from the inner end of said bottom plate 11 and the whole being secured to the lay 1 by screws passing through screw-holes 14L upwardly into the bottom of the lay and through screw-holes 15 hori zontally into the face of the lay.

At the back of the friction member 2, I mount the resistance springs or yielding laminated backing which constitutes, in connection with the friction member and the mounting thereof, the present invention or improvement. As herein shown, this backing consists of along leaf spring 16, a shorter leaf spring 17 of intermediate length, and athird leaf spring 18 shorter than the other two. All three of these leaf springs are clamped between the inner vertical arm 3 and the adjacent inner end of the strap 2. Thus when the picker stick, moving in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, hits the strap 2, it gets the strongest resistance of said springs at the moment of initial impact because, as said springs are secured at the inner end of the check e. the left hand end of the check as shown in the drawings), as distinguished from the outer end of the check e. the right hand end as shown in the drawings), they offer the total resistanoe of the three springs at the inner end of the picker check, and this resistance diminishes gradually toward the outer end of the check. Also, as the halting movement of the picker stick takes place in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, the blow is delivered away from the fixed ends of the springs in a direction toward the free ends of said springs. Hence, as the friction of the curved strap increases from left to right (in the drawings), the strength of the spring backing decreases. A fragmentary portion of the picker stick is shown at 19.

In use, if less resistance is desired at the outer end of the strap, the spring member 16 may be slid back as indicated in dotted lines, Fig. 1. If still less resistance is desired, the member 17 may be removed, leaving simply the members 16 and 18. Or the member 17 may also be slid back. If more resistance is desired, the member 17 may be slid forward. In other words, the different laminae of the spring backing are shiftable independently of each other lengthwise in either direction and are independently removable. Besides this extreme adjustability whereby the picker check may be regulated for practically any degree of resistance desired, the construction is exceedingly simple and inexpensive. And finally, by having the spring member secured at the inner end of the check, the durability of the device is greatly increased and its operation rendered even and highly efiicient and practical.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A picker check, comprising a friction member and means for supporting the same in position to offer frictional resistance to a picker stick, and a spring backing for said friction member rigidly secured adj acent the inner end of said friction member and having a free unattached end extending thence outwardly toward the outer end of the check in supporting engagement with said friction member.

2. The combination with a lay, of a picker check mounted at the end of the lay in position to check the picker stick, and comprising a friction member and means for supporting the same in said position to offer frictional resistance to the picker stick, and a spring backing for said friction member rigidly secured adjacent the inner end of said friction member and having a free end extending thence outwardly toward said end of the lay in supporting engagement with said friction member, said spring backing consisting of a plurality of spring leaves secured at their said inner end only.

3. A picker check, comprising a friction member and means for supporting the same in position to offer frictional resistance to a picker stick, and a spring backing for said friction member rigidly secured adjacent the inner end of said friction member and having a free end extending thence outwardly lengthwise in supporting engagement with said friction member, said spring backing consisting of a plurality of successively shorter spring leaves.

at. A picker check, comprising a friction member and means for supporting the same in position to offer frictional resistance to a picker stick, and a spring backing for said friction member rigidly secured adjacent the inner end of said friction member and having a free end extending thence outwardly lengthwise in supporting engagement with said friction member, said spring backing consisting of a plurality of spring leaves separately removable and independs ently adjustable lengthwise.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MILLARD F. FIELD.

Witnesses Gno. H. MAXWELL, EDWARD MAXWELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents Washington, D. C. 

